Fortunately, the kids did not say "yuck" in connection to the story itself. In fact, the overwhelming majority loved Dark Life. We found that although this was yet another futuristic, somewhat dystopian novel, it was a world unlike any we'd seen before as the setting was a deep sea civilization that has come into existence after global warming and earthquakes have caused the oceans to rise so high that US citizens are crammed into the "stack" cities that exist on the limited amount of land that remains where high areas such as mountains once were. Pioneers have learned to farm and build homesteads at the bottom of the ocean. One of the most intriguing, and we found questionable, elements of the book was the fact that children who have spent several years subsea have started to develop "dark gifts" that can make them both special and dangerous.
Several of the Nooksters have already started the sequel, Riptide, and are already looking forward to the third book.
Congrats to Hope, our Varsity Card Sharks champion!
